Bøger af Kay Chandler

With so much trauma in her past, a young widow with a teen-age son clings to the belief that things can only get better. She's wrong. When the grandfather with whom they live brings a conniving, selfish woman into the house, they are evicted from the only real home they've ever known. Driving down an unfamiliar road at night, on the way to seek a new life, a deer darts in front of the car, causing her to wreck. She watches helplessly as the automobile goes up in flames. A gruesome-looking character shows up out of nowhere and takes them to his cabin in the woods. Finding a way of escape from the wiles of this horrid man, becomes an obsession. But with no car, no money, and a badly sprained ankle her chance of getting away look grim. Why do bad things happen to good people?

Jim MacKenzie recalled the promise made to his wife Thelma, on her dying bed to help their boy find a good woman. Jim gave his word, although he had no idea how difficult the undertaking would prove to be. That is, until George, a friend of his at the Senior Citizens Center introduced him to a dating service called seekinglove.com. He figured George knew what he was talking about, because he took his advice and found the perfect girl for Doyle. She was the prettiest apple on the tree. He could hardly wait to tell his son the good news. There was only one thing on Liz Blackstone's mind as she pressed her back against the wall-her picture might be on next week's front page, under the caption 'Missing Woman.' Her meddling neighbor had pulled some idiotic stunts in the past, but this one topped them all.

Trudy Allen is on her way back to the last place on earth she wants to go, to see the last person on earth she cares to see. Yet, there seems to be a will stronger than her own, wooing her back to the place of vicious lies, broken promises and shattered dreams. Twenty years ago, she and Luke McGallagher sat on a concrete bench at Lake Geneva, planning a future while Nat King Cole's Unforgettable blared on the juke box in the nearby dance pavilion. For the past eighteen years, she's struggled to forget. But forgiving? Not a chance in a lifetime.

When the Chalkboard Preacher accompanies his friend to the Psychiatric Hospital to secure his wife's release, the husband is horrified to learn she's even more disturbed than when she was admitted. She fails to recognize him and clings to a doll she believes to be the baby they never had. Things go awry when an angry, domineering nurse sabotages the husband's intent to take his wife home. Determined to free her and convinced the end will outweigh the means, the husband devises a plan that will ultimately involve his faithful friend, the Chalkboard Preacher. Would the Reverend Castle Marlowe have been so eager to assist, if he'd been aware it would lead to a scheme with such dire consequences?

After reading a passage in II Corinthians, the Reverend Castle Marlowe laid his Bible down and wept. He knew firsthand about afflictions, distresses, and chastening. The past three years had been the most difficult of his life. His woes began the day his wife left him and their five children. Needing a mother for his children, he married a 16-year-old and was blissfully happy-for a season. With beautiful, sweet Rebekah by his side, Cass felt he could withstand anything Satan threw his way. But could he? Learning to deal with a teen-age daughter's defiance, Rebekah's hidden secret, his little boy's dreadful prognosis, an old flame's delusions, his home invaded by a cranky old soul, malicious rumors threatening his marriage, and the terrifying thought he could be responsible for his good friend, Elsie's disturbing illness caused him to question how much more he could withstand.

In 1949, in spite of the odds against him, Navy Fireman 3rd Class Jericho Rhoades headed to a little town called Enterprise shortly before Christmas to meet the girl he'd fallen in love with-though she was promised to another.Would he have been so eager to get to Alabama if he'd known the secret things about himself would be revealed and he'd end up in jail for a criminal offense? Was she worth it?

On a dark September day in 1930, Dabney Foxworthy selflessly gave up a life of her own to become nursemaid to baby Alexandra, Pastor Pruitt's orphaned granddaughter. Now, ten years later, the tide turns and she's thrown into a unique situation she never dreamed possible. Wooed by two passionate men vying to win her hand in marriage, her choice is a difficult one to make. Will she listen to her head or to her heart?

Born out-of-wedlock, Hezekiah (Kiah) Grave assumes he's the shameful consequence of love gone sour. He and his mother live in squalor while his wealthy father, whom he's never met, enjoys a life of luxury. When three self-righteous judges from a little country church inform his mother that her kind aren't welcome in their fellowship, Kiah makes a dual vow to never fall in love or darken the door of another church. However, the vow becomes a hard one to keep when the prettiest girl in the land of cotton-the parson's daughter-moves to Mississippi and sets her sights on him. When the parson's car shows up repeatedly at a known prostitute's house late at night, Kiah faces a dilemma. The thought of the preacher getting away with his little shenanigans infuriates Kiah; yet, revealing the incriminating truth could cause him to lose the only girl he's ever loved.

Bound to a homeless vagrant by invisible chains, Mandy Gafford longs to be set free from her wretched way of life, though steel shackles would be easier to break. She dreams of ways to escape her miserable existence - but she can't - because he's her daddy. He needs her. He said so. And as much as she wishes it wasn't so, she supposes she needs him, also. As she and her shiftless father ride across Mobile Causeway after a major hurricane, Mandy stares at the gruesome destruction along the Alabama Gulf Coast. Never has she seen so many blue tarps, but it isn't the tarps that trouble her most. Déjà vu? Maybe. She can't be sure of anything, anymore.

Raped at seventeen by the son of a prominent Senator, Jackie Adkison is forced to marry her abuser. The only thing Jacob Gorham's father can't afford is a scandal, so the young parents-to-be are whisked away to Virginia to escape gossip that could end Amos Gorham's political career. Now, twenty-three years later, Jacob is caught embezzling and commits suicide. But that's only the beginning of Jackie's woes. Her beautiful daughter has vanished. Broken and penniless, Jackie leaves Virginia to return to her Alabama hometown. Years ago, Bubba Knox was in love with Jackie Adkison when she mysteriously dropped out of high school and moved away, setting the rumor mill into motion. Until recently, no woman since Jackie has turned his head. Was it reaching the big 4-0 that caused him to consider the wasted years-or could it be no one came along who could make him forget-until beautiful Greta Pugh showed up in town?

There's trouble in the land of cotton when a handsome hobo hops off a train bearing a sinister secret capable of ruining lives-including the pristine life of Lizzie Lancaster, a precocious young heiress. When the flirtatious Lizzie offers Kiah Grave a ride in her new Model A, her cousin warns her it isn't right. What will townsfolk say if they see her picking up a vagrant at the tracks like a common chippy? Besides, Lizzie's mother already has a beau picked out for her-Oliver Weinberger, the Senator's son. But the daring Lancaster heiress has never bowed to protocol. Her quick wit and spunky attitude, which her father deem endearing, grate heavily upon her highfalutin mother's nerves. Perhaps if she'd known the truth from the beginning, Lizzie wouldn't have fallen in love with the mysterious stranger. But she didn't and those who knew weren't willing to tell. But like a splinter in the hand, secrets often fester and work their way out.

The last person in the world Gracie Jackson thought she'd ever marry was Garth Graham, the annoying, arrogant editor of the local newspaper. But that was before she got to know the real Garth - the sweet, compassionate man she fell head-over-heels in love with. A much anticipated wedding takes place while Garth is waiting to be deported to St. Lo, France, during WWII. Gracie opens the orphanage at Nine Gables, taking in five young foundlings, only a few days after the wedding. Garth has three weeks to become acquainted with the children before his deportment. Life is good. For a season. After only sixteen days on the battlefield, comes the dreaded telegram from the Secretary of War. Everything that Gracie has believed in, suddenly becomes scrambled like eggs in an omelet. Mercy!

Ludie Graham Alexander didn't want to believe the terrible things the landlord said about the man she married less than twelve hours earlier. However, when the facts became indisputable, Ludie realized she should've listened to her adoptive parents when they warned her against marrying someone she barely knew. Garth and Gracie Graham had disapproved from the start, but nothing or no one was going to stop her from being with the only man she'd ever loved. No one, that is, until the owner of a rooming house told her more about Schooner Alexander than she ever wanted to know. The awful truth caught her by surprise and she did what she'd learned to do best-she ran away. After setting up camp in the Georgia woods on the outskirts of Atlanta, rumors began to circulate concerning "The Cartersville Swamp Angel." But was the Swamp Angel real, or merely a figment of a child's imagination?

Veezie Harrington, a backwoodsy young woman with a seedy past, experiences difficulty fitting in to her new way of life after she inherits a wealthy estate in Alabama during the 1930's. When she falls in love with handsome Shep Jackson, the local pastor, she sets a goal to overcome her redneck ways and become a real lady, worthy of the love of such a fine Christian man. Is the bar too high? Reverend Shepherd Jackson, a forty-year-old widower, causes an uproar in the church when he falls in love with the ill-bred Veezie, who is half his age. Will he risk his God-given call for the love of a fallen woman?